


The Inventor's Dragon

by Lowkey7



Category: Original Work
Genre: Awkward Tension, Awkwardness, Blood, Captivity, Care of Magical Creatures, Caretaking, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dragons, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Experimentation, Falling In Love, Fantasy, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrids, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Laboratories, Loneliness, M/M, Magic, Medical, Mental Health Issues, Misunderstandings, Modern Era, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Nerdiness, One Shot, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Sexual Tension, Short One Shot, Sleepiness, Slow Build, Sorry Not Sorry, Tension, too many tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 20:42:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16541876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lowkey7/pseuds/Lowkey7
Summary: Dani, a scatter-brained lonely inventor, is awestruck when a stranger breaks into his house.*Warnings: Brief mentions of blood, suggestions of trauma/physical abuse*





	The Inventor's Dragon

_Thunk_

  
Dani clutched the bed sheets at the sudden noise. It only took him four hours to go to bed; why even bother with sleep tonight anyway? His eyes battled to make sense of his surroundings as he opened them to the dark bedroom.

  
He grabbed the still chilled ice water on his bedside table. The cool condensation gave comfort to his skin that was beginning to bake under the heavy sheets.

His grandparents had given him the bedding when he moved into this new house.

  
This was the first place he had on his own. It was a brilliant break from living in that pent-up apartment in the city with those five college acquaintances. His nose scrunched in the thought of poor memories and bad decisions.

His entire life was uncomfortably forced into things he didn’t want. Before the apartment, it was that hellish part time office job. Everyone had to squeeze into four by four cubicles; growing migraines nourished by the dim blare of computer screens. Before that, he had to share a house too small for him and his seven siblings. It was never what he wanted. He never had his own space, to do his own thing.

  
Now it was different. He, for the first time in his life, got to create his own being. This old townhouse was a two floor small building, secluded in the outskirts of nowhere. He chose it so he could have his own personal sanctuary....and the dirt cheap price.

The house felt borrowed and foreign. It was sparsely decorated and barely furnished. What he did own was composed of stuff from grandparents, thrift stores, and eBay. It was as if even in his solitary he was still surrounded by other people.

  
But his room was his own. It was a requirement he forged for himself to make his room his. Dani had put his wobbly bedside table with favorite books atop it. He had his toolbox next to his desk. He had put a few sketches he made up on the walls. Loose things Dani picked up on his adventures through life could be found in mason jars on shelves. These were things like ticket stubs, worn glow sticks, shells, dried flowers. They were like memories lodged inside materials.

  
His aspiration was to become an inventor, so the majority of his room was bits and bobbles of ideas not quite completed. There was the metal cylinder of the banana holder that made its way halfway under the bed. That 3D printed clip-on pocket from the Futurist Festival peeped out of a drawer on his bedside table. Who could forget the portable coat hanger that had been on the desk to be fiddle with for months.

  
For a bit of a neat freak, his bedroom was poorly managed. But the presence of the clutter comforted him. Unconsciously, he felt empty in the house alone and the mess created the illusion of company. It was an odd submission that despite wanting to be by himself, he was too familiar  
with others to be comfortable without them.

  
He took a deep swig of water. The glass barely hit back down on the table before Dani heard the second thunk.

  
The sudden noise in the night jarred him. He was used to the wayward chatter the house made when the pipes in the walls struggled to work. Yet, the unnatural thunk, as if a bowling ball was dropped from a low height onto wood. It left a hollow feel in Dani’s stomach.

  
He pulled the covers higher, like they were some kind of unbreakable protection from the unknown. The burning heat of the soft cotton somehow now brought opulence.

This feeling quickly faded as the sound of shattering glass emitted from some distant area of the house. He considered curling up further into the sheets, to feign that he had remained asleep this entire time. But, his autopilot swept the sheets off him in a cool release of heat, like opening a bag of popcorn from the microwave. His feet swung over the side of the bed and his gravity shifted from his butt to his heels. His hand hesitated on the metal knob of the bedroom door briefly before entering the hallway.

Dani hugged himself for extra security. He felt maybe he should splurge on a baseball bat for events like these.

  
It was probably just his imagination. Maybe he left a cup too close on the edge of the counter. Or maybe it was a mouse. Or maybe it was a murderer. “ _No_ ” he said to himself, trying to protest his imagination.

  
In fear of provoking some pretend apparition, Dani refrained from turning on the lights. His foot tapped around the top of the staircase until he found the first step, then he shifted his weight and timidly slunk down. It felt darker every additionally step he took; he cursed the occasional creak the old  
wood released.

  
His living room was plain and dusty from constant neglect. There was a coach covered in odd brown stains, picked up from a tag sale. The piece was more of a decoration. He would never dare sit on it without a blanket down over it first. Small bookshelves lined the far walls of the room. His feet stuck slightly to the hardwood floor as he padded through the room.

He staggered as a sound came from the door in front of him, the kitchen. “Shi--” he breathed out. It _had_ to be a mouse. He was overreacting; an internal illusion from the lack of sleep.

  
He grew some courage. In a quick movement, he slid onto the tile of the kitchen and flicked the lights on.

  
He was instantly stupefied.

  
Glass littered the floor and part of the counter, derived from cups left by the sink. Their sudden disruption had clearly come from Dani’s surprise visitor who had glass stuck in his foot where a cup broke its fall on. The stranger didn’t nearly petrify Dani as he would have if he didn’t look so utterly distressed. His knees sagged deeply. The majority of his body weight was held up by his forearm, braced on the kitchen counter. He had black hair that cloak his face completely. If the lights were still out, it would look like he was missing his head. His hair was primarily straight  
but curled slightly at the ends, cut short like Dani’s own. He wore a white shirt that was obviously too large; it hung past his waistline and the sleeves made his arms look unproportionately skinny. His arms were covered in dirt and pink in irritation in some spots. Maybe the dirt was from the wooded area around his house. Dani doubted this guy was well enough to drive here. The stranger wore ill-fitted light grey sweatpants. Of course, his feet were tragically barefoot. He looked sparse, no backpack, no noticeable phone. This guy looked like he just appeared from thin air and landed in Dani’s kitchen.

  
The stranger sprung his head up at Dani’s entrance. For a brief moment, Dani captured brilliantly red eyes and two strong freckles against deathly pale skin paired together on high the right cheek. The intruder stuttered: “Please-please don’t…” As he sunk to floor, he changed mind in tone, with a desperate: “Please help.”

Dani was left with a stranger on his floor with no information, and at the very least, glass to clean up. He ran over to the front door and put on a pair of boots. He returned to the kitchen and walked over the glass to pick up the stranger. He put a hand under the back of his knees and on his back to lift him up. To his shock, his hand his something different than skin when his hand hit his back. Maybe he did have a backpack after all. Under his clothes? He’d take a look over him after he set him down.

He walked confidently to the living room, pausing slightly at the uncovered couch. He set his visitor propped up against the wall while he spread a blanket over the gross excuse for a couch. He’d rather this person wait a minute before putting him down on the mystery sofa. Dani brought him up on top of the now blanketed area and was careful to assure he was comfortably distributed. Before anything, he checked out the foot with the glass. The piece was big enough to be plucked and barley deep enough to need stitches. Dani’s dad was a nurse, and he taught him more then enough to know to know how to dress a wound.

Dani grabbed antiseptic, some gauze, and rubber gloves out of the medicine cabinet in the half bathroom and went to work. If nothing  
else, at least his parents gave him a first aid kit. The cut might sting for a bit but wouldn’t dare leave a scar, just might need to be bandaged again sometime soon.

He felt the stranger's forehead, founding it relatively hot. He didn’t have a thermometer in the kit to be sure, though if this person passed out it could easily be because of a fever. In the bathroom he wet a hand towel with cold water. The towel balanced on the stranger’s forehead, who gave an unconscious shiver in retort. At least he was still moving.

As Dani looked down on him, his mind somehow began to regain consciousness so he could fully recognize the alien being in his living room. Trying to mute the fear, he went to the kitchen to clean up the glass. He was glad he didn’t take off the boots yet as he mistakenly stepped on a shard, hearing the crunch under him. It took a few moments to get all of it cleaned. With content, and new relaxed feelings of a  
restored kitchen, he turned back into the living room.

He returned to find his visitor on the floor, silently wincing in pain. The low hum filled the quiet room. Dani came and crouched next to him. He placed a soft hand on the other being’s shoulder, which was responded with those bright red eyes opening in a grand reappearance. Dani moved his hand away, but stayed sat next to him. He recalibrated.

“How’d you get all the way down there?” Dani questioned with a smile. The stranger’s body stayed tense but his eyebrows lowered, comforted by the sudden casualty. Dani tried again to lay his hand on a shoulder. This time, the stranger’s eyes fluttered shut, welcoming the touch. Dani dared not move for a minute, relishing the brief connection he had just made. It was a soothing connection in the isolated night, despite it being with a stranger that just broke into his house, ruined his kitchen, and passed out.

  
Dani was too caring for his own good. This could be a conman who came to gain his trust then steal his stuff. Though, why anyone would want to come to a dirt cheap house and get their foot cut by glass at four in the morning was beyond him.

  
“What’s your name?” Dani tried, thinking it would be the best start to his other thousand questions. His stranger’s eyes remained closed for a while as if he had fallen asleep before opening them. Dani felt the guy’s shoulders raise in a deep inhalation of breath before he begun, “Do you...you wouldn’t...are you?” The stranger struggled with the words. Dani was going to say something apologetic, as if he was sorry for inconveniencing the person who broke into his kitchen. Before he could, the visitor collected himself, “Bishop.”

"Your name’s Bishop?” Dani repeated. The corner of Bishop’s mouth rose slightly as if the word in Dani’s mouth was a happy memory. Dani returned a smile. The name was odd but fit perfectly to the face in front of him.

  
Bishop had a pointed face. Sharp lines made his jaw. His cheeks looked full and it made him appear more youthful. Though, he couldn’t be much younger than Dani himself; maybe a year or two’s difference. His eyes were like almonds, pointed at the corners. The red irises were like little volcanoes. They were almost mirror like, and Dani felt if it was lighter in the room he could see himself looking back through them. Despite being previously hot, his skin didn’t look flushed at all. He was almost white like a blanket of snow. The difference was striking in  
comparison to Dani’s tanned skin.

Dani blinked a few times when he realized he had just been staring for a minute, lost in  
thought. “Oh, uh. I’m Dani!” He piped, his voice slightly cracking. Bishop lip synced the word lightly in his mouth, not so much as to confirm the name, but more to help himself remember it.

  
“Uhg,” Bishop suddenly breathed out sharply and grasped the side of his body. Dani snapped back into the situation.

“Here, lemme help you. What happened?” His hand rose up and hesitated, waiting for confirmation before he helped lift his guest up to get back on the couch. Bishop rejected the help to be lifted up, but instead grabbed Dani’s hand and used it as leverage to prop himself up to a seated position on the floor.

  
“I think this happened,” he gestured to his rib, “when I fell down. Or maybe the fence did it.” Bishop finished as if Dani knew the exact circumstances of the situation.

Dani furrowed his eyebrows a bit in questions before Bishop’s back caught his eye. Now that Bishop was sitting up straight, Dani could clearly see a rough outline of something dark under Bishop’s loose shirt.

“I can take your backpack if you want. That can’t be comfortable.”

  
Bishop looked back and tilted his head. “I don’t have a backpack.”

  
Dani pursed his lips and tried again, “Why don’t I take a look?” nodding his head at  
Bishop’s side, “My dad’s a nurse.”

  
Bishop didn’t even respond before lifting up his shirt. In an instant two wings unfolded from against Bishop’s back and cascaded down to the floor. They were large, even just being relaxed like this, partially shut together. They weren’t like wings Dani had seen, more like a bat then any kind of bird, but it was difficult to tell without them being extended. They had no feathers but shiny black spots like scales across them, and it wasn’t until Bishop lifted his arm revealed a gash in his side that Dani stopped staring.

  
“I think I got it last night but it didn’t start stinging until, like, now.” Bishop said poking a bit at the skin around the cut, talking as if two wings didn’t just accordion out of his back.

Dani automatically stood up fast and took a slow step back

.  
“Does it look bad?” Bishop asked, softly, the fatigue really now showing in his face.

  
“I..uh..” Dani hesitated and flipped his head toward the doorway then back at Bishop.

  
“What should we do?” Bishop urged, eyes not moving from Dani. He basically pleaded the words but did not try to grab for Dani or force him back down to help him.

  
Dani had never seen someone so desperate before. He had seen his siblings beg his mom for video games, and people on the street asking for change. But the person in front of him, looked so vulnerable. He was just sitting there without a shirt, he had put his arm back down so his hand were hugging his sides. He looked exhausted, as if he never slept in his life. He looked as if he was continuously waiting for Dani to strike him.

It wasn’t even a thought. Dani sat back down.

  
“Can I see it again?”

  
Bishop breathed out a gust of air Dani didn’t know he had been holding. He raised his arm back up but not as high or quickly as before. He seemed to be losing strength, as if Dani’s standing up took some of Bishop’s own energy. Dani snuck occasional looks at the masses dragged behind Bishop’s body as he examined the cut.

  
“It looks like you just scrapped your side” Dani started.

  
“I’m sorry.” Bishop whispered and lowered his head.

  
“No. What? Uh, it’s irritated and wasn’t cleaned so it looks a bit worse then it is. Would it be okay if I...um...clean it?”

Bishop didn’t answer.

  
“I’m just gonna wet this again,” Dani said, plucking up the wet towel from earlier, that was now soaking the couch. “And get some Neosporin and stuff, okay?”

  
Dani heard a sharp inhale come from Bishop and looked to see little collections of tears forming in his eyes.

“Oh! Uh, it’s okay!” Dani said, patting Bishop’s shoulder awkwardly, who now, suddenly, felt icy cold.

Bishop without notice, drooped his head farther so he was leaning now against Dani’s chest and began to bawl.

  
“I...uh..” Dani stuttered, cheeks going slightly red of the stranger’s intimacy, “You’re really cold, can I get you a blanket?”

  
“Why’d I do that?” Bishop gasped out in between wails. “I’m so stupid.”

  
Dani awkwardly tightened his body, not knowing where to put his hands. Typically, he would assume to put them on his back for comfort, but his back was obstructed by fucking wings, plus he literally met this person tonight.

  
“You must be..uh..really tired. Can you just um…” He looked at the couch that was both gross and now wet. “Just lay here on the floor” Dani said, peeling the sobbing person off him and guiding him to lay down, “and I’ll be back in two seconds..”

He let Bishop’s weight transfer from him to the floor, took the wet towel, and paced to the bathroom to retrieve the recently opened first aid kit and rehydrate the towel. He took a little pause as he passed by the steps and decided to run up and grab his blanket.

He flicked on the lights as he entered the warm cave of his bedroom. He thought maybe he should just bring Bishop up here instead of bringing a blanket down, but brushed it off as he imagined trying to get the wounded guy up here, having a stranger in his bedroom, and having a  
bleeding person ruin his mattress.

He bundled up the blanket in his arms and headed out the door. Before flipping the lights he glanced back at the plug in the far side of the wall were his phone was still charging. His eyes wandered between his phone and the blanket before he made up his mind, turned off the lights, shut the door, and trotted down the stairs to Bishop.

  
Bishop’s crying had dialed down, and stopped as Dani sat back down next to him. “May I?” Dani asked, holding up the kit. Bishop’s lower lip jutted out in response, brilliant amber eyes opened wide, glittering with tears.

  
With a sympathetic smile Dani replied, “I’ll try to be quick.” 

Bishop, lifted his arm obediently, but Dani doubted he would have ever put up a fight anyway.

  
As Dani carefully dotted the area, “Anything you..” he paused. “You wanna talk  
about it?”

  
He probably should have dropped the subject. Bishop started tremble, shaking Dani’s hands off the wound, then full on ball again. Dani could hear Bishop’s teeth clench together in a short snap, while bullets of tears cascaded down his round, pale, cheeks. With how cold his skin turned, Dani wasn’t surprised that the tears didn’t just immediately become ice on the spot.

“I’m so stupid. I’m so stupid!” Bishop boomed out in his hysteria.

  
“I don’t, uh, I don’t think you’re stupid” Dani tried to say warmly, but it came out awkward and thick, like when his parents used to make him hug his siblings after a fight.

  
Though, he wasn’t entirely sure Bishop actually heard him, in any manner. Dani laid a hand once more on the shaking body. Bishop stopped briefly at the touch, stiffened by the feel, then let out a deep puff of air, warm against Dani’s leg.

  
“I should never have left.” Bishop whispered.

  
“Never left where?” Dani whispered back after a short pause.

  
Bishop looked up at Dani, with eyes that read confusion, then burrowed into himself like a turtle going into a shell.

  
“Mmm” Dani hummed, “If I continue patching you up, will you cry again?” He finished, more sour then he wanted it to sound.

  
Bishop did even move at the mark, and if Dani didn’t just see him move, he could of easily assumed he was dead. He was cold and pale and covered in marks and bruises.

Dani felt uncomfortable moving Bishop’s arm up himself, but nothing about tonight was orthodox.

The room seemed colder than it was just a second ago, or maybe it was the silence that mocked temperature change. Dani couldn’t seem much out the window from the floor, but it looked lighter out then it did before. The floor was hard on his knees, and he shifted slightly trying to relieve the symptoms, moving Bishop with him as he was leaned a bit against him.

Bishop still hadn’t moved or talked again, or even let out a whimper when the alcohol wipe touched the cut, leading Dani to believe  
he must of passed out again.

  
He gathered the wrappers and plastic glove he used into a pile, and started to get up to dispose of the waste when Bishop let out a high pitched whine at the movement. Dani stopped and adjusted his weight back to the ground.

  
“Please don’t leave me,” Bishop muffled. Dani melted, he was in a continuous loosing battle of will. Dani had learned his lesson of asking questions. He opted for the safety of silence, as they stayed there together on the ground. They stayed like that for a while. So long that the pain in Dani’s knees went numb enough to be ignored and the cotton candy effect of the sun rising out the window came into view. Dani even thought maybe he drifted off a little. Bishop had undoubtedly fallen asleep. Little nasally breathes escaped his slightly parted lips.

It was Dani’s obnoxious alarm going off upstairs that disrupted their small serenity. The fog horn sounds were extremely muffled by the long distance they were emitted from, but clearly distinguishable to Dani. Bishop covered his ears in disgust, whining slightly at the disturbance. Dani was surprised Bishop could even hear it at all especially enough to wake him up.

  
“I’mma turn it off,” Dani slurred, lazily getting up, sliding Bishop off him in the process.

Dani’s room was a reminder to how odd all this was. And yet, he found himself wanting to hurry back to his spot on the floor with Bishop. Maybe it was because he was used to crazy, panic, and intrusion. Maybe him being alone in his own house was the odd interlude. Then again, some injured person broke into his house and Dani just accepted it instantly like some insane person. He didn’t want to think too much into it, as if maybe thinking about it would change his perspective and everything would become too real to handle. He was already getting a headache  
just thinking about thinking about it.

  
Dani made a slight audible gasp as he came downstairs to see Bishop sitting upright with his wings extending behind him. They were easily spotted as obsidian black with light hues of deep red around the edges, probably were his bones were. The blanket from Dani’s bed was  
nested around Bishop, allowing his back to be fully visible. An ombre melted at his back where deathly white skin turn to grey to black. They had peppering of scales like a reptile of sorts. They were undoubtable beautiful. If it was somehow possible, Dani had forgotten this  
perplexing quirk plastered to Bishop. Maybe it was the adrenaline wearing off, but Dani now felt, in a way, more scared than he did before.

  
Bishop winced slightly in pain as his wings mimicked his arms, stretching to relieve the awkward position they had lied in most of the night.

  
Something different switch in Dani that came as a shock even to him. He felt anger. The nonchalant attitude of Bishop just sitting there with wings and all just irked him.

Bishop immediately shut his wings together like a closet door and shrunk into himself when Dani marched loudly over and stood above him, arms on his hips.

  
“Who are you?” Dani said in a voice he didn’t even know he had.

  
Bishop flinched at the words as if after each one he expected a slap to the face that never came. Dani turned a bit red at the innocence. He felt very much out of character.

  
“Where did you come from?” He altered.

  
Bishop’s shoulders came to his ears, and his head sunk lower like a dog who just dug up the backyard.

  
Dani grunted and spun around in frustration.

  
“Say something!” He urged, with less ferocity and more like a plead.

  
“I don’t know-I-I…” Bishop struggled with an answer, eyes fixated to the floor.

  
“Ugh!” Dani growled and paced away from him. He looked around the room as if the walls could tell him an answer. He could see the slight tears collecting in Bishop’s eyes as he stayed kneeled.

  
Dani breathed out.

  
He sauntered over to Bishop, arms hanging heavily at his side, still in authority but with  
no aggravation.

  
“Just start with how you got into the kitchen.” Dani loosened, but Bishop remained rigid.

  
“The porch door was open.” Bishop said with mild strain.

  
Dani sighed, “Oh, I’m such an idiot.” He whispered, more to himself then to Bishop. “Ok, nevermind that was a bad place to start at. Where should you have never left?”

Bishop took a breath to start before Dani interrupted, “Actually, no. Why the hell do you have wings?”

  
Bishop looked up at Dani for the first time since he came back downstairs. In the light he could see how bright Bishop’s eyes were. His whole life he was told he had the beautiful blue eyes, and it made him think if those people say these eyes in comparison they think differently. Dani had never seen red eyes before and he thought maybe in the night he would be frightened by them, but now as he saw them they look at home, like of course Bishop has red eyes what other color would they be? It was an odd acceptance that just was ordinary in an obscene way.

  
Dani could really see Bishop now. He was really slender without that bag of a shirt on. There were various patches of pink across his chest and arms, an allergic reaction to something. Around his wrists and neck where light indents, like when you sleep on top of your phone and it leaves a temporary mark. The marks on his arms were much more prevalent now in the light of day. The grey pants were dusted with dirt but looked relatively new otherwise. Those bare feet of his were rough making it clear he had been walking for a while before landing here. The bandage for the glass seemed to be holding up fine. His wings were tight against his back. The slightly curled hair was groomed, cut to place, as speculated before, and shiny shampooed but relatively spewed about, a bad case of bedhead. The twin freckles looked like moons popping out wide against his pale skin. They added innocence to the already small person, and a disjointment to his otherwise symmetrical face. Dani noticed Bishops fingernails. So shortly cut that is looked like the pads of his fingers came out before the nail itself. Yet, the appearance of the even cuts and  
smooth edges made him believe this was intentional. It was hard to place this guy. Both well kept and yet in atrocious condition. Both soft  
and yet jarring. Both obscure and yet human.

  
Bishop’s voice was so small it wouldn’t have been heard if the rest of the room wasn’t so dead silent, “I was born like this. That's why they took me to the facility..”

  
“The what?” Dani matched his soft tone.

"The facility, with the other dragons, but I was the only one that looked like me." The words were shaky. Bishop sniffled, threatening yet another downpour. 

  
“No, no, no, just, uh, what do you mean?” Dani kneeled down to reach eye level.

“I left and now I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't know what's going to happen. What was I thinking?" Bishop was sobbing with the words, all the escaped was whines of something familiarly English but inaudible with the emotion.

Dani was always a sucker for tears. At the instant show of sadness he would put it down and walk away. However, it was quickly apparent though that  
there was no way he was ever going to receive an answer without tears.

  
“Hey, please, I just want to know, ok?” He offered. “Where was this?”

“The facility!” Bishop said almost agitated through the distress.

  
Dani grabbed both Bishops shoulders with his hands, “I don’t know what that is!”

  
Bishop slowed his weeps and looked at Dani with inner turmoil.

  
“The-the-” He searched Dani’s eyes like looking for a word he forgot how to say, “The  
place! You know!” He argued. 

  
“What?” Dani gave Bishops shoulders a slight squeeze.

  
“You don’t-you don’t know?” Bishop asked as his eyes slowly slunk down to the floor, figuring out he was arguing an incorrect fact and didn’t know how to proceed.

  
Dani took a breath, “So you ran away from this place?” He took a pause to confirm and was met with a slight nod of agreement, “And this place was where you were raised?”

  
“Kept.” Bishop corrected, brings his eyes back up.

  
“What did I say?” Dani snickered playfully.

  
Bishop didn’t giggle back.

"Ok so, are you like an alien?” Dani tried.

Bishop chuckled. “Is that a yes?”

  
“Of course not!” Bishop squeaked.

  
“How’m I supposed to know?!” He returned a bit red in the cheeks, “A robot?”

  
“No, what?” Bishop laughed a bit more.

  
Dani could feel his cheeks heat a bit more as Bishop rolled in a joke he wasn’t a part of.

  
“What are you?” He snapped.

  
The words cut short Bishop’s giggles, like a rock just hit him in the face.

Bishop brushed his hair back to behind his ear. The stands were too short to get caught on his ear and ended up just falling right back into his face, but he didn’t bother trying to fix it again. It was more like  a nervous tick then an actual effort in clearing his face.

  
“I think they...I'm a dragon. But not like the others.” He said feeling the words in his mouth.

  
Dani let the word sink for a moment while he switch his brain from emotional to scientific. Some kind of genetic experiment, he pondered. Perhaps mixing human with some kind of bat? A lizard maybe to explain the scales? Maybe some nut obsessed with fantasy was trying to make dragons real. 

This was something.

It didn’t really explain to Dani why this happened, where this was going on, how Bishop ended up in his house, or really much else but it gave him a start.

  
“You have to help me.” Bishop said, breaking both his own thoughts and Dani’s.

He said it urgently like he just remembered he left the oven on. “I can’t-please you have to hide me.” It was the same plead Dani heard before. It was deep and desperate. It was a wet sloppy slur in the unmoving living room that automatically repeated in Dani’s head as it was received.

  
Dani didn’t really understand that words: the meaning behind them, the severity of it. He didn’t know what was going on or why he was now apart of it. He didn’t know why he was so willing to do this or how this person in the span of a few hours already felt like someone he has known for years. All he knew is that he didn’t want this person in front of him, this being, to be in pain. He hugged Bishop tight in a movement that was interpreted as a response.

  
They sat there together, on the hard floor of the old room, surrounded by things that did not belong to either of them, including themselves.


End file.
